Peugeot 208 GTi could go electric

Peugeot 208 GTi could go electric

10 Jul 2018Stephen Ottley

Peugeot is set to electrify its next-generation of hot hatches.

Speaking to British publication Auto Express Peugeot CEO Jean-Pierre Imparato has hinted the brand is looking at a range of powertrain options for the new 208 due to launch in 2019, including fully electric.

The new 208 is expected to break cover at the 2019 Geneva motor show and Imparato said the details would be revealed then, but in the meantime he alluded at what is to come saying he didn’t want Peugeot’s electric cars to be “boring” - suggesting the 2018 GTi will include electrified powertrains.

“I’ll reveal this in full in March, but I don’t want the future to be boring,” Imparato told Auto Express. “My message will be that each time I launch a new car, it will be electrified, but you will buy your Peugeot and you will choose your powertrain.

“When you buy a Peugeot you will find design, the latest version of i-Cockpit, the upmarket trim levels like GT-Line, GT and perhaps GTi, because I don’t want to generate any difference between EV and combustion-engined models, but the customer will choose the powertrain.”

The next 208 is expected to sit on a newly developed platform for small Peugeot and Citroen models, known as Common Modular Platform (CMP), which has been designed to accommodate both conventional petrol and diesel engine but also electric and hybrid powertrains.

That opens the possibility of either a fully electric or plug-in hybrid powertrain option for the next generation 208 GTi. Peugeot has already experimented with alternative-powered hot hatches in the past, developed the 308 R Hybrid, a petrol-electric hybrid that almost made production (pictured below).

It was powered by the 308 GTi’s 1.6-litre turbocharged petrol engine mated to an electric motor on the rear axle to create an all-wheel drive machine packing 372kW of power and 730Nm of torque.

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Adding weight to the possibility of the 208 GTi having an electric option in the near-future is Peugeot’s support of the World Rallycross Championship and its move to electric cars in 2020. Peugeot Sport runs a two-car assault on the series using the current petrol-powered GTi as its basis so a switch to a road-going electric 208 GTi would already have a ready-made marketing platform.

Imparato said Peugeot Sport is involved in the development of electrified cars as European emissions laws get stricter in 2020.

“I have the high-market mix [GT and GT-Line], including the high-performance versions,” Imparato told Auto Express. “So at the moment we are working on that. I will not hide that it is not so easy because we are facing the 2020 threshold.

“But my friends from motorsport are working on some projects to make our customers happy with something that is high-performance and at the same time compliant with the rules. As I said, I don’t want the future to be boring.”